UA 2009: AH-6: Rain of Fire [New in-game video]

UA 2009 entry: AH-6: Rain of Fire

Game name: AH-6: Rain of Fire
Team name: SSE
Member names: Magnus Wolffelt, Tomas Unosson
Number of players: Single player

Game description: In this helicopter combat game, you take on the role of a mercenary pilot in a ruthless civil war. Will you live to see the end of the conflict?

Test footage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZVcbRLoqtI
New! Explosions galore: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4DBOCw_yns
New! Image effects galore: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pX8Q3tKHZMU




Technology used:

• 
  1. Procedurally generated cities with trees
  2. Generic weapons systems
  3. Advanced control systems (autopilot, missile guidance etc)
  4. Camera shaking effects
  5. Faked sound reflections (when flying past buildings etc)
  6. Raycast-collider based terrain lightmapper
  7. Procedurally textured terrain
  8. Procedurally placed trees

The game is gritty and violent and I've purposely stayed away from the traditional indie comic/cute design. Instead, the goal is to have a realistic feel with a "strong presence". It currently features 8 different equippable weapons, and will hopefully feature upgrades to armor and engine power. There's even a "tactical nuke" that you can purchase, but it's very expensive.

Also, please note that the game uses some non-exclusive 3rd party assets, so don't be alarmed if there's stuff that you recognize from other productions.

 

More screenshots.

 

Wow, like it!!! Looks great!

 

And some more.

 

wow, wow, WOW!

I was going to comment on the visuals but i dont think i'll bother... i'll just say it again, WOW!

Matt.

 

Yeah the visuals are kinda quirky but man that is an impressive feature list.

 

Is this a commercial project? If not, maybe i can help with the graphics. 8)

 

Thanks for the feedback!

This is currently not a commercial project. I will PM you to discuss potential collaboration.

 

Nice visuals. The gun and rotor on the chopper look great, nice detail. Would like to see a bit more similar detail added to the chopper body and a little less mirror glass. Would give the chopper a meaner look. Nice work.

 

Bump for beta!

 

I've been wanting to improve the helicopter for a long time.. problem is that it has no interior whatsoever. We'll see..

 

Hrm, so far it got to 100% and crashed Firefox. I'm going to update the browser to the latest version and try again.

 

I've seen it a lot before.. pretty sure it's audio crashes. Will take down the link for now.

 

Dang, was looking forward to giving it a whirl...up to Firefox 3.5 from 3.0 now. Oh well, I'll keep an eye on the thread!

 

Looks absolutely fantastic! Can't wait to play

 

Thanks. Playable beta link is up again!

 

Very nice.
Pretty fun too.

Only real issue I can find is the controls are super sensitve.

I played for a few then ran out of gas

 

Implemented a set of tools for procedurally texturing the terrain and placing trees.. web playable updated.

Will be using these tools extensively when extending the gameplay... got a pretty good procedural toolset now for the full package - cities, terrain texturing, trees. The only big thing missing is heightmap generation.

I'm starting to suspect that the mouse input sensitivity varies a lot on different computers, for some reason.

There will probably be some starter mission where you learn how to reful/rearm/repair.. which means basically just being close enough to a crate/barrel of the correct kind.

Thank you.

 

New model, along with new shaders. Really happy with the window shader (transparent reflective, available on forums here and there). A lot of the "coolness" comes from having a good cubemap.

 

Bump! Any comments on the improved visuals?

 

The helicopter now looks out standing, before I was going to comment on its shabbyness, but I kept it in and it was worth the wait.
Overall its an improvement. Great work

 

Yeah, the heli looks awesome. I'd vote for working on the terrain props like the trees. They do not look the same realism as the heli yet. But overall, very cool!

 

Very nice. It appears that in-game the helicopter is still the same though. I really want to fly in that awesome heli. Also, I would recommend just making the nuclear bomb drop because right now it just flies off into the distance.

 

Thank you for the feedback. Web player has been updated.

 

I'll admit that the 'copter now looks so good that I'm finding the lack of a visible pilot a little bothersome. Tiny bothersome mind you, but now that the cockpit can be seen it's noticeable (the last screenie above triggered that response when scanning this thread just now).

 

I really like the little world you created.

I found it tricky to control, but I suck at flying all vehicles that have these type of controls. Quake Wars has something that flies like this, and I always smash it into the ground. So I'm pretty sure the problem is between my chair and keyboard :wink:

I couldn't find the hidden road side bombs, but had fun trying to find them.

 

I pondered this quite a bit myself, and I decided for now that this problem is too time consuming to deal with in relation to its actual impact on the overall quality of the game.

This is a really tough problem. While it's obvious that it is difficult to control the heli, I still don't want to go down the "arcade" route.. and the reason is basically that I want the persistent user to be left with a satisfying feeling of having acquired a distinct skill, instead of having mashed some buttons in a fail-safe arcade control system with unrealistic physics.

I'm hoping that the "assisted" control modes along with autohover and reset option will make the experience bearable enough to lead to a positive learning experience - I find myself playing/toying with this game way too much, I can even fly upside down without much problems.. and it's a really cool feeling when you're in full control of this powerful and interesting vehicle.


Another problem with going down the arcade controls route is that the weapons that aren't automatically aimed or guided, would become quite useless in arcade mode, since they need very precise aiming. The only way to achieve arcade controls AND straight-shooting weapons would be to "cheat" with the physics, and that's a huge no-no for me with this project.

 

awesome game. much easier to control with a 360 game controller. I couldnt do anything with the mouse and keyboard.

 

COOL!

The procedural cities and precise controls make this game awesome!

Looking forward to updates

 

Updated with a lot of stuff, tons of bug fixes and little features. Worked ~14 hours straight on it today. Neeeed sleeeeeeee...zzzz..

 

Very nice, the story is at least much more fleshed out. One thing I want to know is how to refuel the copter, it annoys me when I'm about to complete a mission and I run out of fuel.

 

Yea, there's a mission for it kind of, but it doesn't require your to actually refuel.. maybe I should make a specific mission that requires you to refuel the heli.

 

Alright, final (UA) build up. Hope you enjoy it!

 

I can't believe I missed this! Your game is awesome, even though I am having a REALLY hard time controller the copter lol * EDIT: After a few more plays, I got the hang of it. Now I can fly it like that Jean Michelle guy could fly Airwolf lol *

I am honestly amazed by how slick this is ... it's a very slick production!

Awesome work. Good luck with it and thanks for letting me play

 

How do I restart the game btw? All I get on the final screen is the game over message, then I don't seem to be able to restart?

 

He he. I never had time to implement a "Restart game" function, so basically you need to press F5 to refresh the web page to start over. But I agree, it should be restartable.

 

Ok, so having played the ass off this game (and still playing!) I really don`t think that there is much I would change about gameplay itself. I have some suggestions, but they are just that- I honestly don't have complaints as I am enjoying playing so much!

The helicopter controls are awesome - very intuitive and once you get the hang of it, great fun to fly.

I like the tutorial on getting off the ground and hovering at the start - works great. Would be good to perhaps have her guide you through the weapon systems, too, (like how to select different weapons and the targeting system) as it gets a little tricky fumbling for the keys as you are trying to hover around the hidden bombs for the first few times. Not major, just a 'nice to have'.

I found the flying close to refuel or fix was a little tricky. I feel like the radius is a little small on the refuel or fix triggers - would be better to either make them a *little* bigger or have players have to land next to them. The reason I say this is just because it all seems a little undefined and random right now - I think it needs to be a very defined action of refueling or fixing and the radius being small makes it feel like trying to solder wires upside down with boxing gloves on if you see what I mean? You hit the wires sometimes, but it's more chance than science.

Trying to figure out how to get away from the weapon store was odd - I am still unsure. When I hit 1, it goes into that 'arm' view where I can add the weapons. Then I don't seem to be able to get out of that view without some random button mashing - if there's a trick you need to make it obvious.

Being an MTV generation kid, I would like music. Big, dramatic orchestral would be great but I understand that it may be expensive lol ... so perhaps something synthy with a strong beat (my mind thinks back to the Airwolf music!). I couldn't help but fly around with the Airwolf music in my head ... da da dana da da da da dana da ..

There are so many great places that you could take this game, it's unreal. From air to air combat to hauling gear into warzones or dropping aid to villages. Your imagination can run wild with this type of game and now you have the core engine nailed down, there should be nothing stopping you making a great $19.99 game (or kronas or euros or whatever you buy stuff with!).

Oh, and add a restart button

Great game with so many possibilities ... please keep working on it!!

 

That new helicopter rocks. Nice job!

Just started playing the game, the audio is really nice and the chopper controls. I just saw the F5 mentioned above, cool. That will help.

 

Thanks, awesome feedback. All good points.

 

You need music? I could do that easily! I could very easily make two versions of the orchestral, and the synthy kinds. Just say the words and I'll make them FOR FREE.

 

Will PM.

 

Some really old screenshots that I found.. the world looked better before I made it larger.

 

I only just found this today-- awesome work! I haven't mastered the controls yet, but I'm really impressed with your work!

The only request I have so far is for a new game button when you die (since I've done that a few times now!). Or at least direct me back to the main menu so I can choose a different level of assistance etc.

Again, great work!

 

Any more on the game? Are you building a full title?

I'm still playing and I still love it!

 

Heh, no more real work been done sadly. Hope to make some progress soon and maybe release something.

It's got most of the building blocks in place I think.. it just needs more interesting gameplay.

 

Magwo,

A great game, let down a little by the control difficulty!

A bit of background, I flew helicopters for 16 years including a large amount of time on Lynx attack helicopters specialsing in air to ground attack.

Interestingly most helicopters, especially those designed for NOE (Nap of Earth) flying tend to have aerodynamic tails to assist in the yaw turning whilst flying in forward flight. Whilst not entirely negating the requirement for yaw input during the turn the tail shape, balance and thrust reduced the requirement. Thus, when in forward flight, the aircraft will tend to turn with cyclic alone although it will side slip considerably. Many aircraft (Gazelle, Lynx, S72, Huey, S61, Augusta 109 etc..) have a simple stability system which assists in yaw alleviating much of the pilot loading.

Thus by allowing an automatic generation of leading yaw in the turn you should find the aircraft far more controllable! This system should generally be activated above 30kts and deactivated below 30kts to allow spot turning in the hover.

The other major difficulty is with setting collective pitch power. Most helicopters with gas turbines operate a fixed throttle position which is then handed over to a flight governor for flight phase. Raising the collective feeds a signal to the governor which then opens the throttle allowing, in the case of raised collective, the acceleration of the blades prior to the collective pitch increase. The simplicity or complexity of these systems varies but they all try to eliminate rotor speed droop.

What I would advise is that you incorporate a selectable 'flight' mode which accelerates the engine to flight power and then allow a 'selectable' collective position which allows the user to both push and pull the collective around a datum position.

PM me if you want more information. Otherwise a fantastic little game I would be interested in seeing how you put the flight model together and how it would be achieved for a large fixed wing aircraft. (Now currently flying for a large national carrier!!!!)

Keep up the excellent work.

 

that is very good!


i played it on the web.

and i loved it.

 

Hi Magwo,
very nice indeed !

I am an experienced c# developer, I already released a quite popular libray for helicopters in FSX, see here.
http://www.hovercontrol.com/artman/publish/article_110.shtml

I am also starting a cooperation for the physics of new project for an helicopter sim called longbow combat helo, developed with the leadwerks engine
http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/forums/216/1/Longbow_Combat_Helo.html

I am interested in cooperating in a Unity project to share expertise (aerodynamics, physics, engines, instruments etc... vs unity programming, ie gauges, procedural terrain etc..).

let me know if you are interested.
Bye
Fred

 

Uploaded an in-game video to youtube for more convenient demo, since the game is quite difficult for non-helisim geeks.

 

Posted a new video with too much image effects...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pX8Q3tKHZMU